#yangdi

Reenacting the catching light scene in sichuan dialect😂😂

I don’t blame Gongjun for laughing the entire time, I can’t take Yang Di seriously either.

After we got back from Shanghai I totally forgot it’s my 5th month anniversary on the 24th, so no photo about it, sorry. The rest of the week was about work and the coworkers asking about the trip, so I repeated it at least to 15 people :D September 27th is the day of the Mid-Autumn festival which is a public holiday, there are a lot of firework and people go out to eat, celebrate. There are special cakes called “moon cake” with a lot of different taste and they are selling it everywhere starting from August . The story behind the mooncake thing is the following:

“Legend states that long ago, there were 10 suns in the sky causing disaster to the Planet. One day, a hero whose name was Hou Yi used his bow and arrows to shoot down nine of them and saved People. For his heroism an immortal praised him with an elixir of immortality. But 'cause he loved his wife Chang'e and didn't want to live without her he asked her to keep it.But Peng Meng, one of his apprentices knew the secret. So on the 15th of August in the Lunar calendar when Yi wasn't home he forced Chang'e to give him the elixir. Chang'e refused and swallowed the elixir instead. Since she loved her husband and wanted to live nearby she chose the Moon as her residence. Finding out what happened Yi sacrificed all the cakes and fruits that his wife liked so much. From then on, people often pray to Chang'e for fortune and safety. During the Mid-Autumn Festival they offer lots of foods to Chang'e.“ 

I only had to work 3 days in a row and got  27th as a day off (if you work on public holiday they either has to pay you 3 times the original pay for that day, or you get an extra day off. And of course they are not going to let you work so they don’t have to give you anything more than they need to) So Sunday was a rest day for us but I really needed it because we slept so little in Beijing and Shanghai and was running around all day long.

The next week between September 28th and October 3rd was really short. We had 3 public holidays this week so they told me I have 3 days off. Wow. Thanks. A lot of time but no money to spend on anything or travel to anywhere. I insisted on working since I wanted to give back the days I took off for the Beijing and Shanghai trip. But they didn’t let me. :( So I worked 3 days during which there nothing extraordinary happened. Because the national holiday (October 1-7) was nearing, a lot of people arrived even on the 29th and 30th of September. I don’t remember if I mentioned it or not but our flat has been stoking (water dripping from the ceiling and walls) for about a month now so our living room looks and smells disgusting, and poor Tatie’s room constantly have 2-4 mm of water on the floor. So you can imagine how pissed we are and that we can’t keep the flat clean unless cleaning everyday. And who wants to clean when they get back to the flat after 9PM. So I spent my precious day offs by cleaning the whole flat and the bathroom (which doesn’t have a normal window by the way so whenever it rains all the dirt gets washed into our bathroom…) and sleep and finally watched some movie like The Maze Runner 2, The Cobbler (please watch it, it’s really funny) and the first part of The Hunger games 3. Since they needed Tatie to work (executive lounge was full during the national holiday) we only had Saturday when both of us were off so we went to the city to watch a movie. The only English movie was the Minions one. I have never seen any movie with them and am not really fond of them but the movie was okay. Minions speak some kind of mixed language of Italian, Spanish and Latin though. We met an old American couple -who teach in Guangzhou for 3 months every year- on the bus in the city. It was funny because we striked up a conversation (there are so few foreigners here that if you see one they are already like family) so we told them we are doing an internship at Marriott and they said they are staying there :D Since they go out before I start my shift and I finish before they come back I could finally meet them 3 days later in the hotel. They are the type of people who are always smiling, has something nice to say and you just have a pleasant time being in their presence.  And it turned out they also go to Yangshuo during the time we will be there with Tatie. Then Sunday back to work. The 3rd typhoon since I am here arrived so it was really really windy, with lot of rain and it was cold.

 On the 24th week we had “a lot of” foreign guest, like an Italian couple from Shanghai with their 3-months-old baby. I chatted with them and they are really nice people. We also had a French couple who were not satisfied with the hotel so I had to go with our DOR (Director of rooms) to talk with them. The funny thing is with me and the other MTs they were really nice, we had great conversations and they even sent me a plan through email to show what to do in Hong Kong when Rain and I go there in the middle of October. And when they checked out early in the morning they left us a bottle of wine. So nice! Later this week a young Belgian couple stayed here for 1 night, they are studying at the Haikou university for one semester. It’s so interesting to meet with all type of people!  Since our trip with Tatie was nearing we were also busy with looking up tour maps, accommodation, programmes, weather etc. Fiona was so nice as to order our plane tickets (again) and even booked a hotel for us. She is such a great help, it would be hard without her. And then finally, Friday came and we headed to Guilin.

Our plane was 7:30AM so we had to get up early. We ordered a taxi for 4AM. The taxi was so fast that by 4:30AM!!! we were already at the airport. So with tired faces we waited until it was time to get the boarding tickets, go through the security check and wait to be able to board the plane. I am always panicking because I pack a lot of thing and this airline company only lets you have a 5kg hand carriage. I’m really bad at weight guessing but my backpack was heavy so I was sure it’s more than 5 kg but in the end they didn’t measure it so there was no problem. On the other hand at the security check was really thorough! I got the seat next to the window but it was cloudy and a short 50 minutes flight. They served us a bun with sliced up beef (or I think it was beef) and we also experienced turbulence but at this point I’m used to it. Okay, we got off the plane in Guilin, headed to the exit to see if someone will offer us a trip to Yangshuo. We didn’t book any since the cheapest one was RMB300 on the internet, while at the airport it started at RMB800 so we just laughed and bought a bus ticket (RMB20) to the city centre.

(Some places we saw while walking in Guilin)

Tip1: Never get a deal with guys “attacking” you at the exit of the airport. They usually charge a lot more for tours and trips. Work a little and find a more budget-friendly deal. And always bargain!!

We went up to a park with a karst formation and a garden in the middle but then decided to go to the bus station to get a deal for a ship trip. On the way a guy stopped us and then we bargained down the price from RMB300 to RMB165 for a 1-hour-long bus trip to Yangdi (halfway through Guilin and Yangshuo), from there a 1-hour-long motorized raft trip on the Li river to Xingping (the place on the 20 yuan bill) then a minibus takes you to the old city of Xingping where there is a market. And then for RMB8 you can take a short bus ride to Yangshuo. I think this deal was pretty good although we had some hardship. First after they dropped us off in Yangdi the locals attacked us, they wanted to sell fruits and flower crowns and whatever. Even if you said “I don’t want it” in English and Chinese at least 10 times they still surrounded you. 

(Local lady attacks. She pestered the guys next to me until they bought 2 fruits.)

After getting off the bus we were so absorbed in taking photos of the beautiful hills that we lost sight of the people who were also on our bus and they all look so similar. I finally recognized a guy in green shirt and asked him what to do from there on. He showed us his ticket, we showed the receipt we got in the office in Guilin and although we couldn’t speak each other’s language we understood that we have to exchange the receipt for the tickets. He just pointed in a direction where the office was but nothing looked like a ticket office. In the end we went into a hostel kind of thing and asked a lady where we can get the tickets. We had a phone number on the receipt so she called it then guided us to an “office” near the river. Actually it was really close to where we first got off the bus, but the “office” was a desk, 2 wooden bench and a plastic thing over it to protect the guys sitting there from the rain. Okay, after 8 minutes of waiting we finally got the tickets. It’s really annoying when the local, disgusting guys stare you up and down and then try to say something sexist in English or in Chinese. After we had the tickets, they just pointed in the direction of a market looking place but after not understanding where we need to go, one of the guys finally stood up to escort us there. There are 4 people on one raft so we had to wait 30 seconds until more people came. We were put together with a Chinese couple. I’m not saying the rafts are super safe, but you get a life west and there is a roof over your head so you don’t have to get wet in case of rainy weather.

Tip 2: If you are alone, never get separated from the group of people who travelled with you. Especially if you can’t speak the language. You’ll have time to take photos after you know what’s your next step. :)

(Yangdi, where we boarded the raft)

(on the Li river)

The raft trip was amazing, I couldn’t even stop staring at the hills, and tried to take photos and videos but they can never give back the real sight. If you can come to China, this is a place and experience you can’t miss!! I’m really really grateful and happy I could see it. After we got off the raft, we saw cormorants and a small market where they sold food and local souvenirs. You have to hand over your ticket for the ship trip to a guy near these 12 seated, electric, half open buses and then you can get a ride to the place where you can take photos of the same hills that are on the 20 yuan bill. After that a short 5-minutes-long walk alongside the river and you get to the old town. It’s basically a market but the city itself is over 700 years old, with beautiful river view. And the souvenirs are really cheap! If you asked around a little, even if you don’t speak the language the locals already know you are looking for the bus to Yangshuo so they will give you directions :D

Tip 3: If you can’t swim/are afraid of water, doesn’t like to get a little wet, are disturbed by the sound of a motorized boat then pay more and choose a cruise ship.

(The photo with the cormorants on your shoulder is RMB10. But they were sleeping so I didn’t want to disturb them)

(The scenery from the 20 yuan bill, Xinping old town, local rice field)

We hopped on the bus (sitting near the door on an extra, small, wood bench) when another foreigner called out to us that there are 2 empty seat next to her. So we relocated and started to talk with her and when she asked “where are you from”  and I answered “Hungary” she just said “Seriously?” in Hungarian and we erupted in laughter. I can’t fucking believe it. HOW SMALL IS THE WORLD???? So her name is Anna and she is even from the same county as me! She is doing a 6-week-long backpacking trip through China and is currently in her 3rd week. We talked about a lot of things – but in English since Tatie was there and we didn’t want her to feel excluded, also because I have been speaking English for almost 6 months now in my everyday life and sometimes unconsciously slip into English even when I want to say something in Hungarian- and Anna told us there is actually 2 other Hungarian in Yangshuo. One of them will open a café there and the other is helping out with the renovation. Okay, so we arrived in Yangshuo which is a reaaaaally small city but located between these huge karst hills at the bank of the river so the scenery is breathtaking. It’s not hard to find the main street called West street, just turn right when you come out of the bus station and go straight until you see a small, metal bridge over the road (maybe 10 min by foot).

(from tope left: Yangshuo and the view from our hotel room/last 2 pictures/)

Tip 4: Look up the map of the city you will go, you can even print it, if possible with the Chinese name of the streets if you have a Google based phone since Google doesn’t work here so you can’t use the Google maps.

We easily found our hotel and said bye to Anna. We agreed to meet up later that night after resting a bit and eating dinner. I’m not saying the hotel was good (they couldn’t even find our reservation – I told them in Chinese we have one, showed my name on my passport, which site we booked through etc.)but at that point we just wanted to take a shower, put the heavy backpacks down and lay in the bed.

Tip 5: If you go to a typical tourist place like Yangshuo and it’s not peak season, you don’t have to worry about booking a hotel. Literally every 2nd building is a hotel or hostel, you can just walk in, ask about the price and make them show you the room. Usually you can get a place with 2 bed and an own bathroom for RMB120/night or if you are not picky then a dormitory type of room with 3-4 bunkbeds for RMB35/night. And if you don’t like the place just walk around. I guarantee you will find one you like in 30 mins.

We went around looking for a tapas place Anna mentioned but couldn’t find it so after 1 hour we just stopped at the first pizza selling place. After asking if they have anything else than pizza for western food she pointed to a restaurant 20 m away, on the bank of a small  river. We crossed the cute bridge and found the best restaurant I have been so far since I came to China. The prices were reasonable (compared to the other places on West street where a small German sausage was RMB50 (around 2100 FT), a small pizza started at RMB60). The place looked really neat and clean, the waitress who greeted us was super friendly and could speak English, the menu looked good.  Just to be safe I ordered a –not-fastfood-type burger/fries combo and then a salad with chicken and falafel.  We waited around 15 minutes for our order but the scenery is nice (by the way our hotel was 15 m away from this place, across the small river) and then the waitress and the cook appeared with our plates and we just started laughing because THEY WERE HUGE!!! Look at them! I paid RMB73 for all of this!

(There is a wax museum, the night market, our dinner and the sight from Anna’s hostel’s roof)

We finished all the food –we are not wasting aything and the taste was really good! Ok, the salad was a little spicy for me but still tasty- we went to meet with Anna and the other 2 Hungarian guy. They seemed nice but were working in the night (if they do the renovation during the daytime, Chinese people stop and stare at them OR even go into the shop and stop 10 cm away from them which is really annoying so they switched to work during the night). We chatted a bit then went around the night market with Anna, checked the view from her your hostel’s roof and then went back to the guys. We were really tired so after apologizing, Tatie and I get back to our hotel after midnight and got to sleep 7 hours before heading out to our 2nd day program. We had bike routes printed out and decided which one to do that day – a 26 km long one along the river, the Moon Hill, an old village, rice fields etc. We rented an electric car-bike (?) (because it was really cold and rainy :(( ) after bargaining a bit for RMB100 for a whole day. You can get an electric bike (like a robogó in Hungary) for RMB70, but because of the rain the road was very slippery, plus the road has holes almost everywhere. I didn’t dare to drive it in those conditions with Tatie behind me (she doesn’t even know how to ride a normal bike let alone an electric one) but mainly because CHINESE TRAFFIC IS CRAZY. So we went with the more stable electric car-bike, which had a roof and a windshield so I was protected from the water – mostly. The disadvantage of this one is that the max speed was around 40km/hour. Okay so I went a test round just to see how it works and then we tried to leave the city.

(Aren’t we adorable?:D Shame that the weather wasn’t good :/)

 Our route map showed a right turn before getting to G123 road so we did a right turn. After 30 minutes of driving and still not seeing the Banyan tree, the Butterfly hill or crossing a river I started to get suspicious. We asked a guy and turns out we shouldn’t have turned to the right and was far away from our route. Sh*t. So we turned around and another 20 minutes later asked another guy. He showed we barely made any progress backwards but then the road started to get unfamiliar so 5 minutes later after crossing a small bridge we stopped and asked some people in a local restaurant. I don’t know how is that possible but in 5 minutes we went like 15 km IF WE WERE ACTUALLY WHERE THE PREVIOUSLY ASKED 2 GUY TOLD. 

Tip 6: Chinese people suck at giving directions. Even if they don’t know where you are or where is the place you want to go, they will send you in a random direction. So if possible, use a Google map or be really careful and not to lose your way to begin with.

(Some panorama photo and us having fun at the Moon Hill Park)

So we finally found ourselves on the right route but did it in a reverse direction. Still saw the same things so it was amazing. We actually added an extra stop, the Water cave which is famous of it’s lighted stalactites. When we stopped at the Moon Hill park to take photos and ask for direction, the locals started to offer to buy us cheaper tickets if we go to the cave. If you are a tourist the ticket is RMB80, they offered to buy for RMB60 (the business is if they take you there they get RMB5/person). Since the weather was really bad and we were freezing, we decided to go to the cave and warm up a little. The original lady who stopped us went and sent her daughter who actually spoke English quite well, she showed us the way to the cave (we followed her motorbike) and she explained everything and bought the ticket for us. Then we paid her but she waited with us until our ticket was accepted and we could go into the cave. Since we didn’t plan to come here we didn’t bring bikinis and didn’t try the mud bath and the hot springs inside the cave. It’s a shame but the cave itself was really nice and I bought souvenirs ( a round stone that is fluorescent and if you hold it in your hand or put it on its holder it looks like you have a tiny moon!!!) At the end of the tour we tasted a 10 year old wine (a strong one but nice taste) that is made in the cave and looked around the souvenir shop but it was too expensive for us. My favorites were the stones that looked like meat :D After the cave we went back to the city because we had to hand the electric car-bike back by 5PM. We still saw a lot of things, like the workers on the rice fields, a cute scarecrow, flower fields, the river and the gorgeous karst hills. So even though it was very cold it was still worth it!

(Inside the Water cave :D)

Tip 7: If locals offer you deals make sure of the following things. 1. The actual price of the ticket for foreigners 2.If that ticket is bough in front of you from the ticket office or just handed to you (probably fake/they won’t accept) 3. It’s the full trip (some attractions have shortened and full course)

(Some more amazing place. There was a lady with cormorants on her tiny raft)

(Local rice farmers, the Butterfly cave)

(new favourite restaurant called Rock N Grill)

Où en étions-nous restés ? ah oui, Detian, les cascades, la beauté, l'émerveillement, la chaleur, tout ça.

De là, passage obligé par Nanning (on aura connu les moindres recoins de cette gare de bus, à force d'aller-retours) et retour à la case départ : Guilin. 

Ambiance Wong Kar-Wai 

Minibus privé pour les rizières, le top. ça peut arriver si le chauffeur ne trouve pas assez de touristes... on se demande d'ailleurs comment il peut gagner sa vie en faisant un aller simple pour les Longyi Titie (les rizières, donc) pour 100 kuai (environ 13€). Au passage, dégustation de Xihongshi jidan avec du riz (oeufs et tomates : ça a l'air extrêmement simple comme ça mais c'est un DÉLICE, et je vais définitivement importer le concept en France), parce que bon, ne perdons pas la face.

Cependant, pendant le voyage, ce qui devait arriver arriva : surplus de nourriture chinoise, dégoût total, dédain. Ça a duré quelques jours, durant lesquels j'ai fait le plein de frites, et puis maintenant c'est reparti : nouilles et autres dumplings, je vous aime.   

La visite dans les rizières fut magnifique. Elles sont situées assez haut dans les montagnes, et les jours de brouillard, on avance véritablement dans les nuages. De nombreuses marches sont possibles, en passant par de petits villages.

Dans le plus grand village où se situent la plupart des auberges et hôtels, on sent que le tourisme est déjà très développé : les femmes, habillées en habits traditionnels et aux cheveux anormalement longs (dans cette ethnie - il me semble que c'était les Zhao ou Zhou... pardonnez mon ignorance et ma mémoire de poisson rouge - l'une des traditions implique que les femmes ne se coupent les cheveux qu'une seule fois, à dix-huit ans), parlent presque parfaitement anglais. Par rapport au reste de la Chine où c'est une lutte permanente pour se faire comprendre, ce n'était pas déplaisant. Juste un peu bizarre.

Nous avons dormi dans une grande auberge où il n'y avait pas un chat, basse saison oblige. Du coup, nous avons pu discuter avec la famille et admirer le gros bébé.

Et... retour à Guilin. Transit. Encore.

Nous n'avons pas vraiment exploré la ville... plutôt les alentours de la gare. Les petites rues sont bruyantes et puantes (oui, je me répète, mais la puanteur à Guilin m'a vraiment marquée) mais plaisantes et photogéniques.

De Guilin, départ pour Yangshuo. Grosse, grosse déception. Après notre début de voyage très agréable et typique, l'arrivée dans une ville aussi touristique est un choc. Les rues commerciales sont bondées. Certes, la vue sur la rivière Li et les montagnes sont très jolies, et dès que l'on s'éloigne un peu de la foule, on trouve des coins charmants. Mais bon.

De Yangshuo, on prend le bus pour Yangdi, à une heure environ, puis le radeau pour le paradis, aka Langshi.

D'ailleurs, j'ai un peu regretté de ne pas avoir fait de croisière sur la rivière : très touristique d'être sur un petit radeau bleu, mais tellement, tellement génial. Avancer au milieu de ces montagnes et dans cette brume fut magique.

A Langshi, nous sommes restés chez Eric, un Américain qui a tout plaqué pour restaurer une maison traditionnelle chinoise et en faire une auberge. Il a appris le chinois avec les villageois, et est désormais très ami avec eux : la preuve, lorsque nous déjeunions ou prenions le thé, les habitants ne se gênaient aucunement pour entrer et se servir à nos côtés, comme à la maison.

Et prendre le thé avec le berger ou le SDF local qui ne parlent pas un mot d'anglais et discutent du temps qu'il fait avec un Américain qui parle chinois, c'est incongru, et absolument génial.

Durant ces deux jours, ce fut : repos, lecture, chinois, randos, thé, goûter. La dolce vita, la vie au ralenti, dans un autre monde.

Train couchette pour Shanghai. 18 heures en "hard sleeper", franchement, je m'attendais à vraiment pire. Ce fut presque agréable, et très bon marché. Non, vraiment, c'est à refaire.

Et voilà. J'ai l'impression que mes photos ne rendent absolument pas justice à la beauté de mon voyage... j'en ai encore quelques unes à récupérer, du village, entre autres.

Comme je voudrais y être encore... mais ça va, on n'est pas trop mal à Shanghai non plus.